Alexander Redlich

Transforming the Frozen Conflict of Moldova-Transdniestria Through Joint Mediation Training

During the downfall of the Soviet Union, Moldova embraced independence, and positioned itself as a Romanian-speaking state, despite the country’s many Russian and Ukraine speakers. This triggered an erosion of the relationship between Moldova and its Eastern Transdniestrian region, which identifiedmainly as Russian. Consequently, Transdniestria declared itself independent, which led to tensions that climaxed in a civil war. Interventions by the Russian army, on behalf of Transdniestria, eventually quelled the direct violence. However, within the last 12 years peace agreements, while drafted, were never signed. Every attempt to implement a peace agreement has failed and the conflict is now considered frozen. The term ‘frozen’ is used for four Eastern European conflicts, all of which arose around separatism (Weiner 2007). It implies not that the conflict dynamics are frozen, but that peace agreements cannot be implemented, even though violence has ceased.

Konfliktmoderation mit Gruppen@@@Conflict moderation with groups

ZusammenfassungProfessionelle Vermittlung in Konflikten hat sich unter dem Begriff ‚Mediation‘ in den vergangenen vier Jahrzehnten weltweit etabliert und gilt als bewährte Erweiterung der Rechtssysteme; allerdings vor allem bei 2-Personen-Konflikten. Konflikte mit einer größeren Zahl an Beteiligten innerhalb und zwischen sozialen Gruppen in Organisationen und im öffentlichen Raum sind erheblich komplexer und lassen sich schlechter definieren als 2-Personen-Konflikte. Sie erfordern ein breiteres Methodenrepertoire und mehr Kompetenzen der Mediatoren. Denn neben der Vermittlung zwischen den Konfliktparteien muss ihre Gruppendynamik beachtet und – partizipativ! – moderiert werden. Diese Art der Konflikte ist überdies schwer zu beforschen. An einem Beispiel-Konzept werden Handlungsstrategie und zentrale Merkmale professioneller Konfliktarbeit mit Gruppen beschrieben und mit der 2-Personen-Mediation verglichen. Darauf aufbauend werden zukünftige Forschungsaufgaben skizziert.AbstractOne professional form of conflict resolution known as ‘mediation’ has itself established globally as an accepted alternative to litigation within the past four decades—albeit most notably for dyadic conflict between two individuals. Conflicts involving a higher number of parties both within and between social groups in organizations or public communities are far more complex and much tougher to be defined than in dyadic settings. They require an expanded repertoire of intervention techniques and more advanced competencies of neutrals as—in addition to the resolution efforts—the conflicting parties’ group dynamics demands attention and participative facilitation. Moreover, this type of conflict is difficult to study. An action strategy for professional group-based conflict resolution is exemplified and contrasted to dyadic mediation of conflict. Based on the analysis, problems for future research are outlined.

Konfliktmoderation mit Gruppen

ZusammenfassungProfessionelle Vermittlung in Konflikten hat sich unter dem Begriff ‚Mediation‘ in den vergangenen vier Jahrzehnten weltweit etabliert und gilt als bewährte Erweiterung der Rechtssysteme; allerdings vor allem bei 2-Personen-Konflikten. Konflikte mit einer größeren Zahl an Beteiligten innerhalb und zwischen sozialen Gruppen in Organisationen und im öffentlichen Raum sind erheblich komplexer und lassen sich schlechter definieren als 2-Personen-Konflikte. Sie erfordern ein breiteres Methodenrepertoire und mehr Kompetenzen der Mediatoren. Denn neben der Vermittlung zwischen den Konfliktparteien muss ihre Gruppendynamik beachtet und – partizipativ! – moderiert werden. Diese Art der Konflikte ist überdies schwer zu beforschen. An einem Beispiel-Konzept werden Handlungsstrategie und zentrale Merkmale professioneller Konfliktarbeit mit Gruppen beschrieben und mit der 2-Personen-Mediation verglichen. Darauf aufbauend werden zukünftige Forschungsaufgaben skizziert.AbstractOne professional form of conflict resolution known as ‘mediation’ has itself established globally as an accepted alternative to litigation within the past four decades—albeit most notably for dyadic conflict between two individuals. Conflicts involving a higher number of parties both within and between social groups in organizations or public communities are far more complex and much tougher to be defined than in dyadic settings. They require an expanded repertoire of intervention techniques and more advanced competencies of neutrals as—in addition to the resolution efforts—the conflicting parties’ group dynamics demands attention and participative facilitation. Moreover, this type of conflict is difficult to study. An action strategy for professional group-based conflict resolution is exemplified and contrasted to dyadic mediation of conflict. Based on the analysis, problems for future research are outlined.

Building Local Capacity in Eastern Europe

Conflict research has shown that in a stalemate conflict, such as the frozen conflict between the Moldova – Transdniestria, peace interventions can be initiated and broadened through the strengthening of the civil population. This can be accomplished through trainings and interventions. Through moderated dialogues on the civil society level, bridges can be built between the conflicted parties. This chapter describes the two-fold approach of capacity building, through the training of practitioners in ARIA conflict moderation skill, and the building of a network of conflict moderators in the region. The chapter portrays the use of a participatory approach to teach ARIA directly to practitioners in the civil population of this region, supplying them with the necessary tools to successfully engage future conflicts.